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MarkPartin
Contributor
Contributor

VCSA 6.5 Patch Update Fails

I have a lab and a production VCSA 6.5. They both fail repeatedly trying to apply photon patches. I have tried updating from the online repository as well as downloading the ISO and attaching it to the VCSA DVD/CD from the ESX datastore repository.

Lab is version 6.5.0.10000 Build Number 5973321, vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller. Trying to apply 6.5.0.11000 Build Number 6816762.

2:16:56 PM: Upgrade Failed

2:16:56 PM: Complete starting services

2:11:13 PM: Start starting services

2:11:12 PM: Start updating packages

2:11:12 PM: Complete running pre-install scripts

2:09:02 PM: Start running pre-install scripts

2:09:02 PM: Complete testing update

2:09:01 PM: Start testing update

2:09:01 PM: Complete preparing VCSA for installation

2:09:01 PM: Start preparing VCSA for installation

2:09:01 PM: Complete Staging packages

2:08:55 PM: Start staging packages

2:08:55 PM: Complete validating update packages

2:08:55 PM: Complete validating update

2:08:55 PM: Start validating update

2:08:55 PM: Start validating update packages

Both logged in as root. With the prod VCSA, after trying 6-7 times, it finally updated. However, I would like to find the cause to resolve it.

Please advise what logs I can look at to determine where the failure resides.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

9 Replies
AishR
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Have you checked the compatibility of the patches with the version you are trying to upgrade to.

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

Check /storage/log/vmware/upgrade and /storage/log/vmware/applmgmt for the manifests from the update process.

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MarkPartin
Contributor
Contributor

VCSA does a check of the repository for valid updates. It is the VMware recommended upgrade/patch package for that version of the VCSA.

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Stooey201110141
Contributor
Contributor

Hi, just had this same issue, turns out a misconfig in a charting subsystem was causing java dumps to build up and consume all space in /storage/log. See here for more, may be related to your case: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2151394

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karps
Contributor
Contributor

I was just digging for the same thing. I found the /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/software-packages.log logs a temp file location where you can follow the steps during the upgrade:

2018-08-22T02:25:58.234 [13732]DEBUG:vmware.vherd.base.software_update:Run command: ['/usr/bin/unzip', '/storage/core/software-packages/patch-metadata-scripts.zip', '-d', '/storage/core/software-packages']2018-08-22T02:25:58.234 [13732]DEBUG:vmware.vherd.base.software_update:You can find the output of the command in temp files out /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/update-outqXZ2dg, err /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/update-err4O17IR
Log: /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/update-outqXZ2dg
Errors: /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/update-err4O17IR
Hope that helps!
cabernocht
Contributor
Contributor

I had what appeared to be a very similar issue.  Upgrade failed, no matter what method we tried.

Turned out to be an expired root password.  Check it like so.  Your mileage may vary.

Syntax: chage --list username (or) chage -l username

Disable password expiration and clear password history for VMware vcenter appliance

chage -M -1 root; echo "" > /etc/security/opasswd

Vijay2027
Expert
Expert

Attach complete software-packages.log file to this thread.

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Polkaroo
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you cabernocht​! I was trying to update from 6.5 U2 20000 to 6.5 U2 22000 and was being disconnected during the "running pre-scripts" phase and the web GUI would not come back up.

Your password expiration post solved it for me. The only thing I would note is that I had to reset the root password (with 'passwd root' at CLI shell) before I could disable expiry.

After your fix, I tried the update again. The web GUI still disconnected during the "running pre-scripts" phase, but when I connected with SSH I was able to verify the log (with 'less /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/software-packages.log') and see that it had been applied. It had tried to output that the update had succeeded and that I should reboot but it had turned the web GUI off during the update so I'm not sure how that was supposed to work. Anyway, I ran 'reboot' at the shell and after a few minutes, I was able to connect to the web gui at port 5480 again and it reported the new version.

Thanks!

cabernocht
Contributor
Contributor

Hehe.  Awesome.  I discovered that tidbit way late at night, on the phone with VMware Support.  "Robin" deserves the credit.

- t2

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